Here are this month’s compilation of progressive get-out-the-vote, civic training, and volunteer engagement opportunities in Georgia. We hope you see one that ignites your interest - and, as always, we’d love to hear from you about your experience!
With the midterms just four months away (Nov 8), every action is important. Even an hour a week can make a difference — and in the current climate of voter suppression — every vote counts.
Class of 2022 or 2023 student in your life? Get them engaged!
Most high school seniors are not yet registered to vote. The Civics Center has created a “Ready to Vote Challenge” toolkit for the Class of 2022, with the 2023 toolkit following in 2023
Campus Vote Project is proud to announce the Georgia Student Voting Summit! This Sept. 23-24 summit, in partnership with Georgia Shift and New Georgia Project, will include a virtual conference featuring a series of panels and workshops highlighting community and civic engagement. Day two includes an in-person keynote reception at Morehouse University featuring free food, networking, art, music, and a keynote panel discussing community and civic engagement. Grant and scholarship opportunities are available to all students across Georgia who will be attending a Georgia college, technical college, or university in the fall.Register now
Albany Voter’s Coalition (nonpartisan: engaging registered voters to participate in early voting via phone banking and canvassing)
The new “Capturing Early Voting” program has kicked off in the 2nd Congressional District and will expand statewide, targeting primary, general and runoff elections so that voters can have ample time to address any potential issues, and address rides to the polls. Get involved
Democratic Party of Georgia (virtual phone banking)
Help contact voters throughout Georgia to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot! At this remote phone bank, you will be trained to engage in direct voter contact and start making calls to our voters. Shifts are Tuesdays 5:00-7:00 p.m., Wednesdays 5:00-7:00 p.m., Thursdays 5:00-7:00 p.m., Fridays 4:00-6:30 p.m., and Saturdays 12:00-2:00 p.m., July through August. Sign up
Environmental Voter Project (canvassing, phone banking)
Since 2017, EVP has helped turn 46,478 environmentalists into consistent super-voters in Georgia.
Mark your calendars! Virtual phone banks start on October 26 for the General Election. Sign up to get updates
Fair Fight Action’s Democracy Watch
Join Fair Fight Action’s Democracy Watch, a program that ensures all county election meetings are attended by people who support voting access and that pro-voting voices are heard.
Attend and/or submit public comment(s) at your board of elections and other local county meetings – let local decision makers hear the reasons and ways they should and can be supporting their constituents! Open to all Georgians, especially if you live in Bibb, Carroll, Clayton, Coffee, Douglas, Floyd, Forsyth, Jackson, Lincoln, Lowndes, Richmond, Morgan, Newton, Spalding, or Troup counties. Find out more info & sign up
Georgia Equality (text banking, phone banking)
Phone banking and scriptwriting: Friday, July 15, 6:00-8:00 p.m.: Join Georgia Equality for a free text bank training using the texting platform Spoke. We will show you how to work the system that allows us to reach thousands of Georgia voters to inform them about upcoming elections and other important events. Sign up
Georgia Muslim Voter Project (voter engagement and education, phone banking, text banking, tabling, canvassing)
Volunteers can help engage voters, educate voters, and get them to the polls for the November general elections. We need support with phone banking, text banking, and help with in-person tabling and canvassing opportunities.
GAMVP is also looking for people who speak languages spoken by Muslim communities, including Arabic, Burmese, Somali, Hindi, Urdu, and more, to translate voter education materials and provide interpretation for events. Email hibah.berhanu@gamvp.org and sign up www.gamvp.org/volunteer
Georgia Postcard Project 2022 (postcard writing for the midterms)
The Georgia Postcard Project is a volunteer group supporting the Democratic Party of Georgia. Postcards have been stocked in 50 locations across Georgia for volunteers to pick up.
See www.gapostcard.org for more info and to fill out a form to get the pickup address of the bin near you. GPP sent one million postcards in 2020 for the general and runoff elections!
My Block Votes (nonpartisan; engaging your neighbors to participate in voting via sustained canvassing)
The successful five-year-old pilot program in Southwest Atlanta will expand statewide and year-round, targeting all elections so that voters in your own neighborhood can have ample time to register, learn new voting laws, and locate their sample ballots with the help of a trusted neighbor.
Get involved in Southwest Atlanta or reach out for information you can use to build effective neighbor-to-neighbor trust over time. Email jillalikonis10@gmail.com
New Georgia Project (voter registration, civic engagement)
Swing Left/Vote Forward’s The Big Send (letter-writing)
Letter writing is one of the most effective ways to contact voters, confirmed by Analyst Institute: https://votefwd.org/impact2020
Write letters to voters in Georgia to be mailed in October that will help turn out people from historically underrepresented Georgia communities to vote in the midterms on Nov. 8, https://votefwd.org/district/GA_2022_A_STATE
Write letters to voters in Georgia to be mailed in October that will encourage Democratic-leaning voters in Georgia to vote in the midterms, https://votefwd.org/district/GA_2022_B_STATE
Share these by forwarding this newsletter or sending the link to the post on our Facebook Group:https://bit.ly/3umijEt
Tools & Resources
Check your voter status- and remind your family and friends to do the same! You can also go to your county’s website for information about where to vote early.
According to the NY Times, "More than 100 Republican nominees for statewide office or Congress this year have falsely claimed that election fraud helped defeat Donald Trump in 2020. Almost 150 members of Congress — more than half of the Republicans serving there — went so far as to vote to overturn the 2020 election result. These claims of election fraud have become the mainstream Republican position. In some places, winning a nomination virtually requires making such statements. In other places, the claims appear to carry little political cost, at least in the primaries. And very few elected Republicans have been willing to denounce the falsehoods." Read the full story (subscription req'd)
Unfortunately, in part because of these false claims, measures have been put into place that make voting more difficult for Georgians. For a detailed summary, see this article originally published by GPB after Georgia's new election law passed in 2021.
Galvanize Georgia's latest newsletter covers all the many ways to take action prior to the election - whether you're an introvert or extrovert, a donator or a canvasser, there's something everyone can do.
And finally, if you are an AJC subscriber and missed Patricia Murphy's option piece following the Dobbs decision, it's worth a read: Women, It's Time to Run for Something.
Georgia 159 Together is an all-volunteer group, led by a diverse board who focus on researching, vetting, and spreading the word about volunteer progressive opportunities all across the state. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and send us a message to join our private Facebook Group.
